Together in Death
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Spoilers up to "Flight". He tried to hold on for his daughter, but help arrived too late. The remaining four survivors of the plane crash struggle in the aftermath.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Grey's Anatomy and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

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Mark tried to hold on for Sofia, tried to listen to a sobbing, pleading Arizona, but his succumbed to his injuries before search and rescue arrived. When Arizona realized that Mark's situation was hopeless, she called out to Derek. "You need to say your goodbyes now." She let out another sob and winced as she coughed up some more blood.

With some help from Meredith and Cristina, Derek made his way up to his best friend's side. He grabbed Mark's hand. "Hi. I know you've tried your hardest. I'm going to miss you so much, Mark. I love you. Remember that, okay? You always were my brother and I forgive you for what happened with Addison. I'll help with Sofia, okay? Arizona and Callie won't be alone in raising her. Go be with Lexie." He burst into sobs as Mark's breathing slowed down. When Mark closed his eyes a few minutes later, Derek struggled not to get angry as Arizona felt for a purse that was no longer there.

"Where the fuck is search and rescue?" Cristina was furious now – This shouldn't have happened. Mark's death could have prevented.

Meredith put her arm around her sobbing husband and rocked and him back as forth to calm him down. She was on the verge of falling apart again herself. She needed Lexie back. What was she supposed to do without her sister? Molly didn't come around very often, if at all, and they'd never be as close. What would Zola do without her aunt? It wasn't fair. "Maybe they'll be here soon?"

She was right. Less than an hour later, the long awaited help finally arrived to find the survivors. They were all taken to the nearest hospital. Mark and Lexie were placed in body bags and sent to the morgue.

Arizona went into surgery immediately. When she woke up in the recovery room to Callie's face, she burst into sobs again. "Hey, you're okay. Shhh, I'm here. Don't cry."

"Mark." And that was all Arizona could say. It wasn't right that Sofia had lost her father. She would miss him, despite having issues with him earlier.

Callie bit her lip. "I know. What are we supposed to tell Sofia? But let's focus on getting you better first. You're lucky you survived the internal bleeding. Why didn't you mention that to anybody?" She was furious that her wife hadn't thought to tell anyone else in the group.

"What could they do? Mark was dying, Derek was hurt, Meredith was trying to deal with Lexie dying, and Cristina was trying to stay sane. My issues weren't that important." Arizona shrugged and then wished she hadn't.

"Arizona Robbins, I never want to hear you say that again. Your injuries were important. If you weren't hurt, I'd be screaming at you."

And that's when Arizona remembered the pilot. "Jerry! What about Jerry?"

Callie looked at her confused. "Jerry?"

"Our pilot. He couldn't feel his legs." She hoped he was okay. They had bonded a little during their time out in the woods.

"Oh, I'm not sure. Do you want me to check?" Callie didn't want to leave her side, but she'd ask if that's what Arizona nodded.

She murmured something unintelligible and then fell asleep again. Callie reluctantly let go of Arizona's hand and then left the recovery room. Upon making sure no one was around, she leaned back against the wall and slid down. She started sobbing, unable to deal with the emotions of the day anymore. Her best friend and a close colleague – The love of Mark's life – had both died and her wife, along with some other friends, had also nearly died. Callie had reached her breaking point.

Cristina stumbled upon her on the way to the bathroom. "Um, hi."

Callie laughed despite herself. "Hi."

"You want to do this somewhere private, like the bathroom?" She figured that Callie wanted privacy for her breakdown.

Callie shook her head, sniffled, and with Cristina's help, stood up. "I'm fine now. I just needed to cry for a few minutes." She'd break down again later, but wasn't about to mention that. It wasn't the time or the place.

"I get it. Meredith's with Derek and the rest of the people from Seattle Grace Mercy Death are out in the waiting room." Cristina had wanted to find Callie to round everyone up. She needed them all to be in the same place for some reason.

"Do you know anything about the pilot, Jerry? Arizona was asking about him." She hoped to tell her wife good news.

"Um, yeah I do. He died about half an hour ago, I believe. They think it was because of his head injury, but won't tell us anything more than that." Cristina couldn't believe that six (seven, if Jerry was included) of them had gone down and only four had made it out. She couldn't wait to leave Seattle and the bad memories behind.

"Crap. Should I tell Arizona or wait until she's feeling better?" Callie didn't want her blood pressure to skyrocket or for her injuries to worsen.

Cristina shrugged. "No clue." She led Callie back to the waiting room, and they sat down with the others, waiting for news. April and Alex tried to calm down Zola and Sofia since the babies were restless. No one could do anything, which drove them nuts. This wasn't their hospital.

Meredith was trying to find a comfortable spot in the chair next to Derek's bed when her husband woke up. "That wasn't a nightmare?" Fuck, he wanted it to be a nightmare. That way his best friend and his sister-in-law wouldn't be dead.

"I'm sorry." She wished it had been a nightmare, too. Out in those woods, Meredith had wished so many times to just wake up. But she had to live with the reality that her sister and her husband's best friend were dead. They weren't coming back and she had to reluctantly accept that fact.

"No, I'm sorry about Lexie." His heart literally ached for Mark. Derek figured that Lexie's death had broken him and even his daughter couldn't stop him from dying. He hoped that wherever they were, Mark and Lexie were happy.

"And I'm sorry about Mark."

"I'm going to have to call my mom and Addison. They need to know." He dreaded making those phone calls.

"I called my dad earlier and he was upset." Meredith still had a headache from that conversation and the crying that ensued.

"Can you hand me the phone, please?" The first person he dialed was his mother.

When the phone rang, Carolyn Shepherd immediately had a bad feeling. She didn't want to listen to whoever was on the line, but forced herself to pick it up. "Hello?"

Derek's voice broke. "Mom?"

"What's wrong?" Carolyn gripped the wall to support herself.

"Uh, we were flying to Boise to help out the hospital there with a surgery and our plane crashed. Mark died. And so did Meredith's sister."

Carolyn let out a wail. She had lost her second son? "Are you at home? I'll be on the next flight out. Have arrangements been made yet?"

Derek shook his head and then realized how stupid that was. "No, we're not home. I think we're in Oregon. And no, we haven't had time to make arrangements."

"Is Meredith okay? Please put her on the phone." Carolyn wanted to find out where specifically they were so she could book a flight.

Derek handed it over and watched Meredith talk to his mother for about ten minutes. When they hung up, he called Addison. She started crying as soon as she heard the news. Since Amelia was still dealing with her son's death and obviously also couldn't make the trip, Addison vowed not to tell her until after she returned to Los Angeles.

It would take the four survivors (and their family and co-workers) a long time to recover from their injuries and grief. Cristina left as soon as she could. And once Meredith and Derek tied up their loose ends, they moved to Boston.

The one thing that tied all of them together was taking comfort in the fact that Mark and Lexie were together now.

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**Author's Note: **As much as I love Mark, I kinda hoped they had killed him off to so Lexie and Mark could be this even more incredibly tragic love story. Can't wait to see what happens next season. I'll miss Lexie. Hope you enjoyed!


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